Field of the Invention
The invention concerns opening roofs, in particular for automobile vehicles. It is routine practise to fit automobile vehicles having a roof with a roof opening and/or closing device called a sun-roof comprising a mobile panel articulated into an opening formed in the fixed surface of the roof. Roof opening and/or closing devices include devices in which the panel can be tilted and/or slid over the top of the roof so as not to reduce the interior roof height.
Known tilt and slide panel opening and/or closing devices usually comprise a pair of guide rails running along two opposite lateral sides of the opening, at least one pair of carriages disposed on each lateral side of the panel, the carriages being movable in longitudinal translation in the guide rails by a pair of cables, a pair of slides carrying the panel and each having a front part and rear part, the rear part of the slide being functionally linked to the carriages by a pair of rear links to be raised and/or lowered in a direction perpendicular to the fixed surface by pivoting of the rear links in a plane perpendicular to the fixed surface during initial displacement of the carriages.
To slide the panel across the top of the roof the guide rails are fixed to the top of the roof so that the panel is raised relative to the surface of the roof even with the roof closed. It is desirable to integrate the mobile panel and the guide rails into the thickness of the roof to obtain a roof surface with no discontinuities which increases the capacity for entry of air to the vehicle and reduces fuel consumption.
At present automobile vehicles are manufactured with a modular roof comprising two lateral strips along the two longitudinal sides of the roof in the form of grooves adapted to receive guide rails of a roof opening and/or closing device. The grooves are usually covered with removable plastics material seals.
The invention proposes a roof opening and/or closing device for vehicles equipped with a modular roof including an opening in which a tilt and slide panel moving over the top of the roof is integrated into the surface of the roof when the roof is closed.